Access values in a flat array according to related values in another array which dictates the order of presentation

Question

How would you write a sorting routine in PHP that would replace the values of an array's keys, with another array's key value's if the former array's key value's are out of order.

$array1 = ['section2', 'section3', 'section1'];
$array2 = ['content for section1', 'content for section2', 'content section3'];

How could I replace the values of $array1 with the corrosponding content in $array2?

So I guess what I'm asking is how can I make $array1 display the following....

content for section2
content for section3
content for section1

in that order.

check this manuals w3schools.com/php/func_string_str_replace.asp php.net/manual/en/function.str-replace.php — Sercan REYHANLI
– Sercan REYHANLI, Commented May 8, 2016 at 23:11
What relation between two array ? content for section2 is a sample value or always end with word section2 ? — S. Ali Mihandoost
– S. Ali Mihandoost, Commented May 8, 2016 at 23:13
If there is not any relationship between two array orders your question hasn't any solution — S. Ali Mihandoost
– S. Ali Mihandoost, Commented May 8, 2016 at 23:14
Somewhere logical error hidden. Is this an actual code? What if content for section1 has a link or reference for section2? Why you don't want to have the second array like this: $array2 = ['section1'=>'content for section1', 'section2'=>'content for section2', ... etc] ? You need to have strong relationship between this two arrays. — Wizard
– Wizard, Commented May 9, 2016 at 0:14

Pedro Lobito · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-08 23:49:55Z

1

Loop both arrays and check if the value of $array1 exists while looping $array2, if so, change the value of $array1 to the $array2 value based on the key, so you can keep the order, i.e.:

$array1 = ['section2', 'section3', 'section1'];
$array2 = ['content for section1', 'content for section2', 'content for section3'];

foreach($array1 as $key => $value){
    foreach($array2 as $key2 => $value2){
        if(preg_match("/$value/", $value2)){
            $array1[$key] = $value2;
        }
    }
}

print_r($array1);

Output:

Array
(
    [0] => content for section2
    [1] => content for section3
    [2] => content for section1
)

Ideone Demo

edited May 8, 2016 at 23:49

answered May 8, 2016 at 23:44

Pedro Lobito

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1 Comment

mickmackusa Over a year ago

I think that 1. $key2 should not be declared and 2. there should be a break in the inner loop.

mickmackusa · Accepted Answer · 2025-02-21 10:50:15Z

0

A nested loop is generally not desirable from a performance perspective. If you want to use one, I recommend using a break statement after a match is found to prevent useless iterations. If not harmful to subsequent scripting, you can improve performance a little more by consuming/un-setting matched values from the haystack array -- again, fewer iterations. Demo

foreach ($array1 as $needle) {
    foreach ($array2 as $i => $haystack) {
        if (str_contains($haystack, $needle)) {
            echo $haystack . "\n";
            unset($array2[$i]);
            break;
        }
    }
}

answered Feb 21 at 10:50

mickmackusa♦

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